9/06/08 BEAUTY AND UTILITY, WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE?

Saturday, 8:00 AM. 49 degrees, wind NW, light. The channel is slightly wrinkled. The sky is overcast and we got a trace of rain last night. The barometer predicts mostly cloudy skies.
The Hydrangeas, some pictured here, are among the most valuable genera of ornamental shrubs. They have been long in cultivation throughout the northern hemisphere, and as a group they are mostly quite hardy, and although many die back to the ground each year they grow vigorously every spring from the roots. Hydrangea arborescens and H. grandiflora are hardy to zone 3, and most of our hardy hybrids are of one or the other of these species. The Hydrangea ‘P.G.’ is probably most often grown, it is the big “mop head” Hydrangea we all know. That said, everything is pretty confused in the nursery trade, and if you see a Hydrangea you really like, ask to take a root division of it and you will get what you actually want. Hydrangeas are very sensitive to PH, and many if fertilized with an acid fertilizer will have pink flowers, and if with an alkaline, blue flowers. There are now hybrids that flower blue or multi-colored without the application, but I think all that rather superfluous. There is also a beautiful climbing hydrangea, H. quercifolia, oak leaved H., native to the southeast. It is hardy to zone 5, but I have not tried it here. One problem with the Hydrangeas are heavy flower heads which often bend to the ground, necessitating tying, etc. but they are beautiful nonetheless.
Hydrangeas are known in herbal medicine as gravel root, and along with Joe Pye weed and corn silk are an effective preventive/cure for kidney and gall stones. As always with herbal comments, you have to do your own research. But this works!